Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Q&A with Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick
5/28/2020 2:53:00 PM | Football, Big Green Scholarship Foundation, Word on the Herd
Marshall AD, starting his 12th season, gives updates on athletic department
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – On March 12, the collegiate sports world came to a grinding halt. Mike Hamrick, who is entering his 12th season as the Director of Athletics at his alma mater, Marshall University, was in Frisco, Texas, with the Thundering Herd men's and women's basketball teams as they competed in the 2020 Conference USA Tournament. On the Thursday of the quarterfinals, with both MU programs still alive in the event, Mr. Hamrick learned the remainder of the tournament would be canceled and no champion would be crowned. In the days and weeks after, all winter championships and spring sports were canceled. Spring football drills soon followed. For the first time in his 30-plus years as a college administrator, Hamrick watched everything around him pause.
The work, however, did not stop. Voluntary football workouts are set to begin June 1. Student-athletes are returning to campus in phases. The road here was not easy.
QUESTION: Let us start at the beginning. Looking back over the past three months, what do you remember about what transpired on Thursday morning at the Conference USA basketball tournament?
ANSWER: The day we left for the tournament, Texas had zero cases of the coronavirus. Obviously, we had been paying attention to the news and were aware of it. Within a matter of days, there were high-profile cases across the country and in major sports leagues, so there was a heightened awareness. Both of our teams won on Wednesday, and Conference USA decided to not admit fans starting with the next day of games. We never made it there. Our women's basketball team was warming up to play Rice when I ran into C-USA Commissioner Judy McLeod on an elevator. She had doctors with her and said we needed to meet with the other athletic directors. Six minutes before tip-off of the first women's game, the entire tournament was canceled. We knew it was the correct decision, but we found out later that people who attended that tournament tested positive for the coronavirus, so in hindsight it was also the correct call. We returned to Huntington as soon as possible and within a week all our sports were canceled, and our student-athletes were scattering for the remainder of the semester. We had to buckle down as a department because distance learning was going to present a new challenge for everyone.
QUESTION: How did Marshall's student-athletes handle the adversity?
ANSWER: I have said it before but participating in sports and being a part of athletic teams – it prepares you for life. We have more than 350 student-athletes who have been competing at the highest level for most of their lives. They have been preparing for adversity their entire lives. They handled the transition to distance learning seamlessly. We set records in academics. We had 68 student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA. Our student-athletes, collectively, had the highest GPA in athletic department history. We had 213 student-athletes on the Dean's List. I could not believe these numbers. When all of this started, I expected a drop-off from the fall semester, which at the time was our best academic performance ever. Instead, our student-athletes rose and faced the challenge and were stars in the classroom. I could not be any prouder of them than I am.
QUESTION: So, the student-athletes are spread across the country, but you and your fellow administrators have been here in the Shewey Building every day working. What have you been doing?
ANSWER: Well, there is no playbook for what we have being going through. There is no blueprint to follow. There has been so much uncertainty with the coronavirus, a lot of what we have been doing is preparing for every scenario possible. We could have a normal athletics calendar. We could have to have social distancing measures in our sports venues, which would decrease capacity and place a premium on season tickets. The information surrounding the coronavirus is so fluid, it is prudent we prepare for best-case scenarios and everything else that could emerge in the weeks and months ahead. That has been the challenge. I am on the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, so I have been part of those meetings every week as college football tries to map the best way forward for the 2020 season. We have so many sports to consider, sports indoors, sports outdoors, fall and winter and spring sports. It has been a tremendous challenge, but not a fun one. In my 30-plus years as an athletic director, this has been the worst time of my career. I miss our coaches. I miss our student-athletes. I miss interacting with our fans. I miss everyone who works for the Herd and makes this place and family so special.
QUESTION: That said, the athletic department has started the process of bringing student-athletes back to campus. How is that process going?
ANSWER: So far, so good. There are phases to our plan to bring back student-athletes and employees to campus, but we started with the football program because of the of volume of players on the team, the challenge of isolating a group that large, and the number of coronavirus tests needed. It was impossible to bring back everyone at once, but with football starting a week early they needed the most time to follow NCAA guidelines to return to the field, so they are coming back first. We started bringing back football players last week, they self-isolated for a week, and then they had to undergo a COVID-19 testing at the stadium. If their result comes back negative, they will undergo a physical and concussion testing, which would have normally happened at the end of spring football drills. They have missed so many repetitions and have been responsible for their own strength and conditioning, so there is a lot of work to do. But it's so good to have them back, and I can't wait to get all of our student-athletes back on campus as soon as it is safely possible.
QUESTION: What would you like the Marshall fan base to know?
ANSWER: Well, I would like to thank everyone affiliated with Marshall University and Thundering Herd athletics. Everyone has continued to work to make sure Marshall is positioned to exit this pandemic and this crisis in the best position possible. I am so thankful for our administrators and employees throughout the athletic department who have continued to work remotely through challenging circumstances. I appreciate Dr. Jerry Gilbert and his team across campus for their continued support. Marshall fans should know there is great leadership and great people who care deeply about the school, this community, and this athletic department, and it shows. I wanted our fans to know about our student-athletes' performance because they also care deeply about Marshall and their programs. They want to perform to the best of their ability, whether it is on a field, court, track, course, pool or classroom. They have earned and deserve the support of Marshall fans. I truly believe that, and we are going to need every single person as we emerge from this in the weeks and months ahead. We have a strong foundation and a strong track record of success, and together we can elevate Marshall University to greater heights in the future.
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and an eight-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
